Three-Quarters of Undergraduates at American Colleges Receive Financial Aid, Report Says

Chronicle of Higher Education 5/10/07

By Lauren Smith

Three-quarters of undergraduates at American colleges and universities received some type of financial aid for the 2004-5 academic year, and 45 percent of undergraduates took out educational loans, according to a report released on Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Education.

The report, a "first look" at statistics collected in the spring of 2006 from postsecondary institutions that receive federal aid, breaks down information on how full-time, first-time undergraduates paid for their education at public, private, and for-profit institutions.

Private four-year institutions had the highest proportion of students -- 85.1 percent -- receiving some type of financial aid, including grants and loans, and 59.8 percent of students at such institutions took out loans.

At four-year for-profit institutions, 79.8 percent of students received financial aid, including 73.6 percent who took out loans.

And at four-year public institutions, 75.5 percent of students received financial aid, and 44.3 percent took out loans. The proportion of students at community colleges who took out loans was sharply lower. According to the report, 61.2 percent of students at two-year public institutions received financial aid, but only 17.5 percent of the students at such institutions took out loans.

At all types of institutions, the proportion of students receiving financial aid in 2004-5 was slightly higher than in the previous year, the figures show.

In addition to financial-aid statistics, the report presents enrollment data for the fall of 2005, graduation rates as of August 2005 for students who entered four-year colleges in the fall of 1999 and for students who entered two-year institutions in the fall of 2002, and financial information about participating institutions for the 2005 fiscal year.

Total postsecondary enrollment in the fall of 2005 was 17.9 million, with about 61 percent of those students enrolled in four-year institutions, 37 percent enrolled in two-year institutions, and 2 percent enrolled in less-than-two-year institutions.

Over all, the six-year graduation rate at four-year colleges was just under 56 percent. Private colleges led in this category, with a six-year graduation rate of 63.5 percent. The rates for public and for-profit institutions were 52.6 percent and 49.1 percent, respectively.

At two-year institutions, the overall degree-completion rate for students who had entered three years earlier was 32.5 percent.

The data are drawn from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, or Ipeds, which compiles information from reports that roughly 6,500 colleges that receive federal funds are required to file. The full text of the report, "Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2005; Graduation Rates, 1999 and 2002 Cohorts; and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2005: First Look," is available on the Web site of the department's National Center for Education Statistics.